Preparation of process cheese using liquid sodium citrate

Abstract

Sodium citrate emulsifying agents can be prepared by contacting a liquid sodium citrate with an effective amount of a source of alkalinity to give a liquid citrate composition containing above 41 wt-% of a tri-salt citrate. The liquid citrate composition can then be combined with a cheese product precursor to produce a processed cheese product.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of preparing food products comprising the steps of: (a) contacting a liquid sodium citrate containing from about 0.01 to 1.0 wt-% of a preservative, wherein the liquid sodium citrate is stored at a temperature between about 40° to 120° F., has a crystallization temperature less than about 110° F., has a pH less than about 8.0, and has a greater concentration of disodium citrate than monosodium citrate, with an amount of alkaline base effective to react with said liquid sodium citrate to form a liquid tri-salt citrate composition comprising above 35 wt-% of said tri-salt citrate, wherein the weight ratio of the liquid sodium citrate composition to the weight of base on an anhydrous basis is between 1:1 and 7:1; and   (b) combining a process cheese precursor with the liquid citrate composition.   
     
     
       2. The method of claim 1 wherein the liquid citrate composition comprises above 41 wt-% of a tri-salt citrate. 
     
     
       3. The method of claim 1 wherein the base is selected from the group consisting of sodium and potassium hydroxide, sodium and potassium carbonate and mixtures thereof. 
     
     
       4. The method of claim 1 wherein the base is selected form the group consisting of sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate and a mixture thereof. 
     
     
       5. The method of claim 1 wherein the base is sodium hydroxide. 
     
     
       6. The method of claim 2 wherein the liquid citrate composition comprises about 41 wt-% of tri-sodium citrate. 
     
     
       7. The method of claim 1 wherein the liquid sodium citrate has a pH less than about 7.0. 
     
     
       8. The method of claim 7 wherein the liquid sodium citrate contains from about 0.01 to 1.0 wt-% sorbic acid. 
     
     
       9. The method of claim 8 wherein the liquid sodium citrate contains from about 0.025-0.06 wt-% sorbic acid. 
     
     
       10. The method of claim 1 wherein the total combined weight on an anhydrous basis of citrates in a resulting process cheese is less than about 3%. 
     
     
       11. The method of claim 1 wherein the method comprises a batch system. 
     
     
       12. The method of claim 1 wherein the method comprises a continuous system.